The Strings that Bind Us Together
by DDaughterofAthena
Summary: (Soulmate AU) Everyone has a red string that binds them together to their soulmate. They've had it since birth. Annabeth, however, has never met her soulmate. All that changes, however, in the aftermath of an eventful meeting near the lockers. (One-Shot, Percabeth) (I don't own PJatO).


Annabeth slipped her books into her locker, feeling a now-familiar tug on her ring finger. The same finger that held her Red String, the other end of which connected with her soulmate. Yes, soulmates were real. They were _very_ real. Annabeth herself had never met hers. Her Red String snaked into the crowd of students, disappearing behind a group of girls giggling over something or the other. Shaking her head, Annabeth gently tugged her string in response right as Piper, one of her best friends, walked up to her. The Red String went through Piper and Annabeth snorted when she saw Piper looking down at the strange fog near her navel. You see, the only person that could actually touch or see a Red String is whoever it connects to. To everyone else, it's just a highly concentrated band of fog; and seeing as how thousands of them were in Annabeth's high school alone, she didn't expect to meet her soulmate anytime soon.

"Your soulmate contacting you again?" Piper asked, grinning. As she was descended from the scientist who had figured out Red Strings hundreds of years ago, Piper considered herself something of an expert on the topic.

Annabeth nodded, slipping her Latin book out of her locker. Annabeth's soulmate always tugged on the Red String several times a day. Once when Annabeth assumed he woke up (7:45 on weekdays, 12:00 on weekends), once when he got to school (9:00), once when he got out of school (4:00), and once right before he slept (11:00) ... or at least, when she _assumed_ he slept. She had never met him, so didn't know why. But Annabeth had decided to amuse him when she was a kid, and had always tugged the string in response anytime she felt a tremor vibrate through hers.

"Anyway, there was this really hot guy in my class. You think he's your soulmate?"

Annabeth glanced at Piper, eyebrows raised, as she closed her locker door. Once, she had tried dating someone who wasn't her soulmate; a senior named Luke Castellan, when Annabeth was only a Freshman. But the two of the broke up a year later, a week before Luke's graduation, when Luke met his soulmate, a guy named Ethan Nakamura. She had tried dating other people, but she always ended up breaking off the relationship within a month or two. She didn't want Piper to give her false hope - not again.

"You sure? You never know unl-" Piper was broken off, her body slamming against the lockers as the school bully, Octavian, sneered down at them. Octavian was a rare person who was actually never born with a Red String, though that didn't stop him from crushing on Reyna Arellano, the current salutatorian (Annabeth was the valedictorian). After Reyna found her soulmate, Thalia Grace (one of Annabeth's best friends), Octavian had taken his anger out on the student body. That had happened in Sophomore year, and they were now seniors.

"Hey dumbass. You finally gonna talk, or are you going to go crying to your friends?" Octavian said, smirking at Annabeth, expecting her to burst into tears. When she didn't, he scowled and continued. "Oh wait. I forgot. You can't talk, can you?"

That was the truth. When Annabeth was seven, she was in a car accident with her mother, Athena Chase. And while Athena died, Annabeth survived; yet a piece of rouge metal had cut into her throat, deeming her mute for life.

Next to Annabeth, Piper glowered, and stepped forward before slapping Octavian in the face. Octavian let out a cry, and glared at Piper. "What the fuck was that for, you bitch?"

Piper raised an eyebrow. " _That_ was for insulting my friend."

Octavian turned to Annabeth, his right cheek a flaming pink. "So now you need a dumpster diver to fight your battles for you?"

Annabeth turned around and flipped off Octavian before she strode away, hearing Octavian give off a cry of pain as Piper kicked him in the groin before she followed her.

"Hey! Hey!"

Annabeth turned around, only to see a scruffy skater boy looking kid run over to Annabeth.

"I saw what you did to Octavian. That was pretty cool, by the way."

Annabeth gave him a once over, mentally noting how he looked. He had ripped jeans and a skateboard tucked under one arm, while his right hand held the ever-present Red String. He had messy black hair that looked like he had just rolled out of bed, and stormy sea-green eyes that looked slightly ethereal - not that Annabeth's stormy gray ones looked any different. Yet something about him had her standing up straighter and pulling her long locks into a bun.

Piper glanced at him. "You're new here?"

Skater-boy nodded. "Yeah. Just moved here from Greece. I'm Percy, by the way."

"I'm Piper, and the angry girl right next to me is Annabeth."

Percy turned to her, automatically dropping his skateboard and trying to straighten his hair, a futile task. When Annabeth raised an amused eyebrow, he blushed. "I'm sorry, it's just that you're really intimidating, and you don't talk an-" Percy froze, staring at Annabeth's hand. "Wait. How come I can see your Red String?"

 _That_ was what that was.

"Oh my gods, you two are soulmates!"

Annabeth turned to glare at Piper, before bending down and looking at her Red String. Sure enough, it connected to Percy's hand.

"Youwanttogooutforcoffeesometime?"

Annabeth grinned and pulled a Post-it out of her backpack, scribbling her answer down on it, handing it to Percy just as she and Piper turned to leave.

 _Maybe not today. Text me sometime though. 800-009-0009._

 **OOOOOOOOOOOO**

 **Yes? No? Maybe so? Fun fact, I had originally written this for the Camp Half-Blood forum's Soulmate AU prompt, but I missed the deadline. Because I only needed two more sentences anyway, I decided to post this. Please R &R!**


End file.
